Thursday, July 24, 2008

Seth Godin, the marketing guru, defines a mashup as a distinct way of spreading ideas. In particular, Web 2.0 mashups allow developers to combine interesting data and then visualize that data through a web application. In practice, a mashup requires a data source and a web visualization platform.

WaveMaker and Xignite announced their own bit of mashup magic today.

Xignite provides financial data as a web service. Real-time financial data that would otherwise cost a minimum of $50K to access through Reuters or Bloomberg is available at a fraction of that cost through Xignite. These services can include foreign exchange pricing, commodities pricing and real time stock quotes.

The problem is that it takes a web application platform to call the Xignite web service, marshall the resulting data and display it in a web page. That's where WaveMaker comes in. With Wavemaker, a web developer can create a ticker widget that calls Xignite services in less than 5 minutes.

File Upload and Download in Ajax applications can be tricky. This tutorial provides introduction to upload and download widget configuration and their backing Java services. Advanced topics include writing uploaded files to a database and serving files directly from database content.

Where there is development, there is debugging. In this session, we will discuss techniques for debugging issues commonly encountered while developing Ajax web-apps. We will use the Firebug add-on to Firefox to debug client side errors. We will also discuss the logging features available in the WaveMaker framework to diagnose server side issues.

Dojo Data Grid Master Tutorial23 September 2008, 11am PTSteve Orvell, Senior Architect, WaveMakerA grid is a fantastic way to view complex data at a glance. Whether it's data from a database, web service, or java service, WaveMaker provides a simple way to produce complex grids quickly. We'll review how to setup a basic grid and then dive into some advanced ways to manipulate the grid widget in WaveMaker.

At WaveMaker, we have found that creating a drag and drop interface for the grid widget is by far the most difficult task in building a visual tool for web application development. Having a more powerful grid widget makes our task easier!

Friday, July 11, 2008

The much-hyped but poorly defined terms Web 2.0, Rich Internet Application (RIA) and Ajax are best understood when they are defined together.

Buzzwords represent job security for entrepreneurs like me who would be practically unemployable were it not for our secret knowledge of the true meaning of words like Web 2.0. However, even I must admit that these Buzzwords 2.0 get in the way of clear communication.

In addition, while there are many standalone definitions of terms like Web 2.0, it is much easier to understand these buzzwords mean by considering them together. With that in mind, here are my definitions of Web 2.0, Rich Internet Application and Ajax, complete with helpful graphics:

Definition of Web 2.0 - Shift In Consumer Attention

Consumer eyeballs still rule the web. The huge power shift over the last 5 years has been from expert-driven content (which could be created using expert tools like Adobe Dreamweaver) to user-driven content (which requires web based tools that are easy to use). The shift in consumer attention is also driving a shift in business focus as corporations look at ways to engage more effectively with their customers and employees.

Definition of Rich Internet Application - Shift in Web Requirements

In order for more people to participate in creating content for the Internet, the content creation tools have to be both simpler and more interactive. Rich Internet Applications seek to erase the difference in user experience between browser-based applications (Gmail) and traditional client/server applications (Outlook). A quick comparison of Gmail versus Outlook shows that RIAs have a big usability gap, but the Internet brings the offsetting benefit of dramatically simpler application distribution.

Definition of Ajax - Shift in Web Architecture

Ajax is an architecture which makes the browser smarter and more interactive by running Javascript programs on the client. Don't tell anyone, but the old name for putting logic on the client was fat client programming. Everything old is new again and it turns out the only way to make an interactive client is to do more processing in the browser.

The following diagram shows the fundamental changes between the Web 1.0 architecture (circa 2000) and the Ajax architecture.

Where is all of this leading?

Web 2.0 is driving new application requirements and in turn creating a demand for new development tools that can meet those application requirements. Building increasingly visual and interactive web applications requires a WYSIWYG Ajax tool - something like a Microsoft Access for the Web. Flex and Silverlight, Adobe and Microsoft are providing proprietary tools for building RIA applications.

ReferencesA number of others have gone before me in defining these terms individually. Jonathan Schwartz recently pointed out that Java has always had RIA capabilities (but he also admits they didn't work very well until recently). Here are my personal favorites definitions: